Page "Objectivism (Ayn Rand)" Paragraph 53

According to one Rand biographer, most people first read Rand's works in their " formative years.

" Rand's former protégé Nathaniel Branden referred to Rand's " especially powerful appeal to the young ," while Onkar Ghate of the Ayn Rand Institute said Rand " appeals to the idealism of youth.

" This appeal has alarmed a number of critics of the philosophy.

Many of these young people later abandon their positive view of Rand and are often said to have " outgrown " her ideas.

Supporters of Rand's work recognize the phenomenon, but attribute it to the loss of youthful idealism and inability to resist social pressures for intellectual conformity.

In contrast, Jennifer Burns says some critics " dismiss Rand as a shallow thinker appealing only to adolescents ," although Burns thinks the critics " miss her significance " as a " gateway drug " to right-wing politics.